Many residents of St. John’s have some hazy notion that there used to be a streetcar running downtown – maybe it used to turn from Prescott Street onto Water or something like that? Well, yes, sort of. But there’s so much more to learn about this.
Author Kenneth Pieroway’s initial connection with the St. John’s streetcars was personal — his mom used to ride them. He himself didn’t take one until he visited to Toronto, and like many TTC customers was struck with the gliding pleasure of travelling on the machines.
“Streetcars of St. John’s,” which is Pieroway’s third history of Newfoundland transportation (following “Rails Across the Rock” and “Rails Around the Rock”), opens with a “Preface” and “A Brief History of the St. John’s Railway System.” “Chicago, Toronto Montreal, Vancouver, Boston, New York, San Francisco, and St. John’s. What do they have in common? None other than one of the most modern, efficient, and beloved means of public transport that existed in 1900 – the street railway. While today only Toronto still operates a streetcar network, essentially unchanged in layout and operation, there was a point where St. John’s was on par with and perhaps even exceeded dozens of other North American cities with inner-city transportation.”
St. John’s narrow-gauge street railway was built by the R. G. Reid Company (who of course also constructed the island’s railway system) with a first run on May 1, 1900.
“The 30,000 citizens of St. John’s and surrounding areas were enthralled with this new means of transport, and it quickly became well-patronized. Like the other North American cities of the time, horses were still used in large numbers for carriages and carts, and it took them quite some time to become accustomed to the bright yellow cars clanging and travelling east and west along Water Street.”
In 1901, three more lines were opened: The Belt, LeMarchant, and Hamilton. Management was restructured over the decades, and the streetcar’s (and streetcar driver’s) fortunes ebbed and flowed during the Depression and the Second World War. The service ended in September 1948.
“Streetcars” is not so much a book as an album – not at all a criticism, as the “Then” and “Now” side-by-side (often full page) photos are wonderful, compelling, and informative, the black and white “Befores” enhancing and enlightening the full colour “Afters” (and vice versa).
It’s aptly described as “a pictorial history,” and the research to uncover this imagery must have been ranging and thorough. (The older ones were sourced from different archives, while the recent ones are the author’s.)
Parts 2 and 3, “1900-1924 The Larivière Years – Reid Newfoundland Company,” and “1925-1948 The Birney Years – Newfoundland Light and Power,” are the bulk of the book.
The photos are specifically titled and comprehensively captioned. For example: “Water Street Near Adelaide 1920” and “Water Street Near Adelaide Now.” In the first, “Streetcar No. 4 starts its turn onto Adelaide Street while another Larivière car continues westward,” and in the second “While many of the buildings from the original picture remain, several have disappeared to make room for more modern structures, including the ongoing renovation of the new ‘MIX’ Condo in the background.” (He also makes note of the St. John’s International Women’s Film and Video Festival advertising.)
In “Water Street Near Prescott 1924,” “A naval contingent marches past the Royal Stores,” while at the same site today motorcyclists cross in front of what’s now the Royal Trust Building.
Some photo series compose near montages.
Military Road is depicted in five sections, from Cavendish Square, along “Lower Military Road” (“the sun swings around just enough to illuminate the still standing and intact posts of the Victorian-era homes”), “Military Road Siding,” “Near Colonial Building,” and “Near Rawlins Cross.” (It’s interesting how much “Now” has changed again — this is pre-roundabout.)
The photos are peopled, too, so these are snapshot mise en scènes of past and present. Shoppers exit Berrigan’s Grocery at Queen’s Road and Bulley Street; the staff of Connors Wholesale and Retail Druggist poses in the window at the corner of Water and Queen streets; a streetcar route is now serviced by Metrobus #2; the Avalon Taxi stand remains where it has seemingly always been.
A few views broaden in panorama, such as “Water Street From King George V Institute,” at the vantage point of the top of the King George V Building, looking west. Other pictures include paintings and vintage tickets, and there’s a short list of “Works Cited and Consulted.” Altogether not just for transportation history buffs, though it might transform readers into one.
Joan Sullivan is editor of Newfoundland Quarterly magazine. She reviews both fiction and non-fiction for The Telegram.
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